The present invention relates to apparatuses for personal physical exercise, that is to say, to equipment, devices and machines designed for carrying out assisted motor activity for the most widespread purposes, such as recreation and fun, to achieve and maintain physical fitness and well-being, rehabilitation, gymnastics and sports training.
The present invention relates in particular to a support device designed to dampen and cushion the mobility of a moving part of an exercise apparatus.
In some exercise apparatuses and machines, of various types and of known construction, generally having moving parts, yieldingly supported by a fixed support member, support devices are used which basically comprise elastic supporting means and electromagnetic damping means suitably combined with one another.
In a device of this type, for example described in patent application PCT/IB02/00575 in the name of the same Applicant, the elastic supporting means are in particular helical springs, inserted between the moving part and the fixed support member. The damper means consist of solenoid valves in which a ferromagnetic core, inside a tubular coil, connected to an electric circuit, under the effect of the magnetic field generated by electrically energizing the coil, is moved longitudinally to the tube shape, creating a pushing or pulling action in the coil axial direction.
These damper means are connected to the moving part and to the fixed support member in such a way as to exert their action, coaxial to the coil, in series and opposing the action of the elastic means.
Therefore, in terms of operation, the springs provide the elastic reaction to the moving part of the exercise apparatus. The electromagnets, counteracting the latter, dampen the oscillations associated with movement of the moving part about its point of equilibrium. Moreover, due to the special structural link between the electromagnets and the spring, the electromagnets being arranged in series, as indicated, the latter can influence the intrinsic rigidity of the spring, varying it.
Adjusting means make the performance of the support device adjustable by adjusting the parameters for electrical energizing of the coil. This adjustment is conveniently controlled according to input signals suitably selected amongst the system mechanical parameters, for example, the instantaneous movement of the moving part relative to a suitable reference; the force exchanged between the moving part and the user; the weight of the user, etc.
Support devices designed in this way have the disadvantage of, generally speaking, having structures with large overall masses and which also require the presence of suspended masses whose incidence on the total masses is rather large.
These features have a negative effect on the weight of the exercise apparatus for which the device is intended and an equally negative influence on the device response speed, also compromising its application on those exercise apparatuses which, more than others, involve dynamic actions during their use.
The above-mentioned structures also have large overall dimensions which affect the method used for application to the parts of the machine.
In various types of exercise apparatuses these support devices do not have enough space to allow them to be positioned between the moving part and the fixed support member. Therefore, since the support devices have to be positioned at the side of them, they compromise machine overall dimensions in general in the direction transversal to the movement they are allowed to perform.
Another disadvantage is the fact that the series connection between the elastic part and the damper element means that the damping which can effectively be used is only in one axial direction of the coil.
A further disadvantage is the fact that the range of the damping strokes is almost the same as those allowed by conventional support devices, fitted only with elastic means, in which damping occurs only by natural energy dissipation.
The aim of the present invention is, therefore, to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.